1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a small industrial electronic imaging camera which comprises a connection mechanism for an external interface cable, which is preferably applied to a machine vision system.
2. Description of the Related Art
An industrial electronic imaging camera which comprises a connection mechanism (external interface connector) for an external interface cable and is applied to a machine vision system can relatively easily achieve a cable lead structure for a camera capable of leading an external interface cable from a desired arbitrary direction, by maintaining spaces for mounting the external interface connectors at a plurality of portions in a housing, when a housing structure of a camera body has extra spaces for installing camera components.
However, for example, in a small electronic imaging camera having a box-type housing structure whose edges each are approximately 20 to 30 mm long, i.e., a so-called microcamera in a machine vision system, a large space is occupied by external interface connectors in the housing, and spaces for mounting external interface connectors are therefore difficult to maintain at a plurality of portions in the housing. Accordingly, an external interface connector is provided and fixed to one portion of the housing. A specific example will be an external interface connector provided in a back face (rear face) part of a box-type camera housing in a manner that an external interface cable is led from the back face (rear face) of the box-type camera housing. Therefore, according to the prior art, the external interface cable has to be led in one fixed leading direction, and the leading direction of the cable cannot be changed. Therefore, for example, a degree of freedom is insufficient for changing camera configuration settings, such as a change of camera mounting positions, a change of a monitoring target, and a change of a camera configuration. Further, since a position for attaching the external interface connector is fixed, there is a problem in general versatility of products. If an attempt is made to allow a cable to be led from an arbitrary housing face among a plurality of faces of a box-type camera housing, a plurality of sets of construction components of the housing need be prepared and cause a problem in view of management of components and economy.
There is a video camera in which a connector pivot mechanism which can be pivoted about two axes perpendicular to an outer housing is provided as a variable mechanism which can change a cable leading direction of the camera so as to provide a degree of freedom for a cable connection direction of a connector (see Patent Literature 1). Although the video camera provided with the connector pivot mechanism allows the cable leading direction to be changed, a mechanism which pivotally supports a connector provided with wires is complex and causes a problem in economy and reliability. Further, when the video camera is applied to a microcamera having a box-type camera housing structure as described above, mount spaces for the mechanism are difficult to maintain. Further, even if a leading direction of the cable is variable, mounting parts of the connector is fixed to a predetermined position of the housing, and causes a problem in a degree of freedom and general versatility as described above.